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Heterosporous spores can respond independently to selection by ecological conditions in order to strengthen male and female reproductive function. [7] Heterospory evolved from homospory many times, but the species in which it first appeared are now extinct. [ 6 ]
They included heterosporous water ferns (Salviniales) (placed in a separate subclass by Cronquist et al. due to their highly modified morphology) within the leptosporangiate ferns, which they elevated to the rank of class as the Polypodiopsida (published by Cronquist et al. to include all ferns).
A pteridophyte is a vascular plant (with xylem and phloem) that reproduces by means of spores. Because pteridophytes produce neither flowers nor seeds , they are sometimes referred to as " cryptogams ", meaning that their means of reproduction is hidden.
In heterosporous plants, sporophylls (whether they are microphylls or megaphylls) bear either megasporangia and thus are called megasporophylls, or microsporangia and are called microsporophylls. The overlap of the prefixes and roots makes these terms a particularly confusing subset of botanical nomenclature.
Like all ferns, sexual reproduction leads to spore formation, but unlike other members of this group Azolla is heterosporous, producing spores of two kinds. During the summer months, numerous spherical structures called sporocarps form on the undersides of the branches. The male sporocarp is greenish or reddish and looks like the egg mass of an ...
Most heterosporous plants there are two kinds of sporangia, termed microsporangia and megasporangia. Sporangia (clustered in sori) on a fern leaf Equisetum arvense strobilus cut open to reveal sporangia. Sporangia can be terminal (on the tips) or lateral (placed along the side) of stems or associated with leaves.
Salviniales are all aquatic and differ from all other ferns in being heterosporous, meaning that they produce two different types of spore (megaspores and microspores) that develop into two different types of gametophyte (female and male gametophytes, respectively), and in that their gametophytes are endosporic, meaning that they never grow outside the spore wall and cannot become larger than ...
This can be confusing because members of the division Pteridophyta were also denominated pteridophytes (sensu stricto). Traditionally, three discrete groups have been denominated ferns: two groups of eusporangiate ferns, the families Ophioglossaceae ( adder's tongues , moonworts , and grape ferns) and Marattiaceae ; and the leptosporangiate ferns.